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Senin, 17 Mei 2010

Most European airports reopen, some see ash delays

By JENNIFER QUINN, Associated Press Writer – 11 mins ago

LONDON – Three of Europe's busiest airports reopened Monday afternoon after a dense volcanic ash cloud from Iceland dissipated and a no-fly zone was lifted. Up to 1,000 flights in Europe were affected by the closures.

Flights were landing and taking off from London's Heathrow andGatwick airports and Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport, but all three warned travelers it would take time for airlines to clear the backlog of delayed flights and to contact their airlines before going to the airport.

Eurocontrol, the continent's air traffic control agency, said 28,000 flights were expected Monday in Europe, about 1,000 less than normal, mainly due to the disruptions in Britain and the Netherlands.

Icelandic civil protection official Agust Gunnar Gylfason said the ash cloud was traveling to the north, forcing airports in Keflavik andReykjavik to close. He said seismic activity at the volcano was unchanged.

All British, Scottish and Irish airspace was open at least until early Tuesday, but airspace over the North Sea was still restricted, affecting some helicopter operations.

British Airways chief executive Willie Walsh — facing a fresh wave of strikes by cabin crews on Tuesday — called the latest airspace closures "a gross overreaction to a very minor risk."

"I am very concerned that we have decisions on opening and closing of airports based on a theoretical model," he said. "There was no evidence of ash in the skies over London today yet Heathrow was closed."

Aviation officials have defended the decision to impose the no-fly zone, saying airline representatives and engine manufacturers last week had agreed to find a way to ensure planes could fly safely in the volcanic ash.

Britain's transportation minister, Philip Hammond, said aircraft manufacturers were examining evidence to see "what inspection regimes they can put in place that would allow safe flying through a somewhat higher threshold of ash.

"If we can do that, the likelihood of volcanic ash disrupting flights will obviously diminish," he said.

Germany sent up two test flights Sunday to measure the ash cloud, but there was no word yet on the results of those tests. Still, Germany said Monday the latest ash cloud should not affect its airports.

"At this time, the concentration of ash above German air space is so low that there are no reductions in air traffic," German Air Traffic Controllers said.

Ash can clog jet engines. The April 14 eruption at Iceland's Eyjafjallajokul volcano forced most countries in northern Europe to shut their airspace between April 15-20, grounding more than 100,000 flights and an estimated 10 million travelers worldwide. The shutdown cost airlines more than $2 billion.

Last week, the European air safety agency proposed drastically narrowing the continent's no-fly zone because of volcanic ash to one similar to that used in the U.S. The proposal still must be approved.

Eurostar added four extra trains Monday — an additional 3,500 seats — between London and Paris to help travelers cope.

Eyjafjallajokul (pronounced ay-yah-FYAH-lah-yer-kuhl) erupted in April for the first time in nearly two centuries. During its last eruption, starting in 1821, its emissions rumbled on for two years.

Associated Press writers Slobodan Lekic in Brussels, Jan Olsen in Copenhagen, Melissa Eddy in Berlin and Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands, contributed to this report.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100517/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_iceland_volcano;_ylt=AhczMpRtIeZqobilyjGqdfv9xg8F;_ylu=X3oDMTM3ZW4yZnMxBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwNTE3L2V1X2ljZWxhbmRfdm9sY2FubwRjY29kZQNtb3N0cG9wdWxhcgRjcG9zAzYEcG9zAzYEc2VjA3luX3RvcF9zdG9yaWVzBHNsawNtb3N0ZXVyb3BlYW4-

Sabtu, 15 Mei 2010

UK, Germany eye possible ash travel disruptions

29 mins ago

LONDON – Volcanic ash from Iceland could disrupt air travel in bothBritain and Germany in the next few days, officials said Saturday.

The British Department of Transport said there was a risk that parts of British airspace could be closed beginning Sunday and those problems could continue through Tuesday. The predictions are based on the continuing eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokul volcano and current wind and weather conditions.

German air traffic control spokesman Axel Raab told The Associated Press that German air travel could see possible disruptions starting Monday. He cautioned, however, that indicators were still "very, very vague."

Germany will send up a test flight Sunday to measure the ash concentration, German Aerospace Center spokesman Andreas Schuetz said. Any decision on air space closures will be made after that flight and Sunday's weather forecasts, said Raab.

A spokeswoman for Lufthansa, Germany's biggest airline, Stefanie Stotz, welcomed the test flight and stressed that the situation so far didn't seem dramatic.

The Met Office, Britain's weather forecaster, said Saturday the wind is expected to change direction Tuesday, which would lower the risks of travel disruptions.

Transport secretary Philip Hammond said five-day forecasts are now being published to give airlines and travelers "the best possible information. However, he said the situation "remains fluid and these forecasts are always liable to change."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100515/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_iceland_volcano;_ylt=Aqm6WcOKBePSuuD1xhVHvzZvaA8F;_ylu=X3oDMTJqMmZjc3NoBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwNTE1L2V1X2ljZWxhbmRfdm9sY2FubwRjcG9zAzEEcG9zAzIEc2VjA3luX3RvcF9zdG9yeQRzbGsDdWtleWVzcG9zc2li

Sabtu, 24 April 2010

New plan would allow whale hunts, with limits

By Renee Schoof, McClatchy Newspapers – Fri Apr 23, 2:19 pm ET

WASHINGTON — A ban on commercial whale hunting since 1986 hasn't stopped Japan , Iceland and Norwayfrom killing 35,000 whales, according to U.S. government counts. Now the International Whaling Commissionhas proposed a new approach — legalize whaling for those three nations for the next 10 years, but impose limits and watch the whalers more carefully.

The plan doesn't propose to phase out commercial whaling, even though whales in many areas have not rebounded in numbers and face other threats. Environmental groups say it's far too weak and could open the way to more commercial whaling fleets launching from Russia and other countries.

The whaling moratorium brought a sharp drop in the number of whales hunted and killed when it went into effect. In recent years, however, the three whaling nations have been killing whales in increasing numbers. Last year, the three countries that hunt for whales despite the ban — Japan , Iceland and Norway — killed about 1,700 whales, including minke, fin, sei, gray and Bryde's whales.

"What we recommend, our precautionary approach, is to set the numbers (for commercial hunts) at zero until scientists can prove otherwise, and they're doing it backwards," said Susan Millward of the Animal Welfare Institute .

Some whale populations have rebounded in some parts of the world, but many are in decline or their numbers are unknown. Whales also face other threats from humans, such as overfishing of prey species and ship strikes.

Japan has used a loophole that allows killing whales for scientific research, even though the whale meat ends up in supermarkets and sushi bars. Norway and Iceland have used a loophole that allows them to continue whaling because they objected to the ban. The three countries set their own quotas.

Over the past three years, a group of nations including the U.S. has been talking about a compromise plan that would restore authority of the International Whaling Commission and improve whale conservation. The chairman of the IWC, Christian Maquieira , on Thursday announced a proposal for the 88 IWC member countries to consider at a meeting in June. Much could change before they vote.

The proposal would allow the three countries to catch whales according to IWC quotas and would increase the organization's monitoring of hunts.

The IWC said in a press release that several thousand fewer whales would be killed over a 10-year period if the proposal is adopted. It added, however, that the quotas didn't represent a stable limit, that all countries would be dissatisfied, and that the whole quota plan would be open to debate in June.

Decisions of the IWC require a three-fourths majority. Japan has persuaded many countries to line up with its positions in past votes.

Environmental groups say they aren't worried about traditional subsistence whaling in Alaska , but that hunt is politically connected to commercial whaling. The IWC also approves permits for Alaskan whaling. The next vote on that permit will be in 2012. Support from Japan and other pro-whaling nations will be needed.

The U.S. was one of about a dozen countries that helped craft the compromise proposal during the past three years. The U.S. and other members, however, didn't immediately endorse the plan put forward on Thursday. Monica Medina , the No. 2 official at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. commissioner to the whaling organization, said in a statement that the U.S. would review the proposal carefully.

Millward, at the Animal Welfare Institute , said that the proposed quotas represent only a small improvement over this year's catch. In addition, she said Russia and other nations that authorized whaling by indigenous people would be able to start commercial whaling under the proposal.

Consumption of whale meat has been on the decline, conservationists say, but they worry that other countries could open new markets and find new uses for whales, such as medicine or food for farm-raised fish.

Once whaling for some countries is approved, other countries that don't have indigenous hunts could claim they have the same right to commercial whaling, Millward said. South Korea has expressed interest in commercial whaling. The plan also wouldn't prevent countries from objecting to the new plan and starting whaling, she said.

Patrick Ramage , the whale program director at the International Fund for Animal Welfare , also called for a long-term push to end whaling and opposed lifting the moratorium for commercial whaling nations.

"We shouldn't undo and abandon these hard-won conservation decisions in order to please the last three countries involved in this outmoded and cruel practice," he said.

Kamis, 22 April 2010

Threat of new, larger Icelandic eruption looms

By CARLO PIOVANO, Associated Press Writer – Tue Apr 20, 1:44 pm ET

REYKJAVIK, Iceland – For all the worldwide chaos that Iceland's volcano has already created, it may just be the opening act.

Scientists fear tremors at the Eyjafjallajokull (ay-yah-FYAH-lah-yer-kuhl) volcano could trigger an even more dangerous eruption at the nearby Katla volcano — creating a worst-case scenario for the airline industry and travelers around the globe.

A Katla eruption would be 10 times stronger and shoot higher and larger plumes of ash into the air than its smaller neighbor, which has already brought European air travel to a standstill for five days and promises severe travel delays for days more.

The two volcanos are side by side in southern Iceland, about 12 miles (20 kilometers) apart and thought to be connected by a network of magma channels.

Katla, however, is buried under ice 550 yards (500 meters) thick — the massive Myrdalsjokull glacier, one of Iceland's largest. That means it has more than twice the amount of ice that the current eruption has burned through — threatening a new and possibly longer aviation standstill across Europe.

Katla showed no signs of activity Tuesday, according to scientists who monitor it with seismic sensors, but they were still wary.

Pall Einarsson, professor of geophysics at the Institute of Earth Sciences at the University of Iceland, said one volcanic eruption sometimes causes a nearby volcano to explode, and Katla and Eyjafjallajokull have been active in tandem in the past.

In fact, the last three times that Eyjafjallajokull erupted, Katla did as well.

Katla also typically awakens every 80 years or so, and having last exploded in 1918 is now slightly overdue.

That notion is frightening for nearby villagers, who would have to quickly evacuate to avoid the flash floods that would rip down Katla's slopes. Even last week's eruption generated spectacular cascades of melted water and ice chunks the size of houses when burning gases and molten earth carved through the glacier.

Svenn Palsson, the 48-year-old mayor of the coastal village of Vik, said residents are going over evacuation plans now just in case.

With a population of 300, Vik has been covered in 3 millimeters (0.12 inches) of ash from the Eyjafjallajokull eruption, but the real concern is Katla. Residents would have two to three hours to reach the safety of a shelter if the volcano erupted and caused the ice to melt quickly.

"We have practiced and can do it in 30 minutes," Palsson said.

Other areas around the mountain, however, would have no more than 20 minutes to evacuate, he said.

Katla's substantial ice cap is a major worry because it's that mixture of melting cold water and lava that causes explosions and for ash to shoot into high altitudes. Strong winds can then carry it on over Europe.

So far there have been minor tremors at Katla, which scientists believe to be movements in the glacier ice, but the activity from Eyjafjallajokull is making measurements more difficult to read and an eruption more tricky to predict.

"It is more difficult to see inside Katla," said Kristin Vogfjord, geologist at the Icelandic Met Office.

Click image to see Icelandic volcano photos

Her team of geophysicists, based in the capital of Reykjavik, use seismometers and GPS units planted around volcanoes to monitor quakes and the swelling of the land, which can indicate magma reservoirs that are pushing up through the crust. The area around Eyjafjallajokull rose up as much as 3 inches (8 centimeters) in recent months and then contracted slightly following the latest eruption.

Vogfjord says Katla's sensitivity to eruptions at Eyjafjallajokull may have to do with pressure shifts in the Earth's crust that are caused by an eruption's magma flow.

There are no clear answers, however, and even fewer predictions about what the future may hold. Volcano eruptions, like earthquakes, are difficult to predict.

"Katla can start tomorrow or in 100 years, you don't know," said Palsson. "All we can do is be ready."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/eu_volcano_science

Senin, 19 April 2010

Volcanic ash relentless as tremors rock Iceland

April 18, 2010

Volcanic ash relentless as tremors rock Iceland

Volcanic ash relentless as tremors rock Iceland Lava flows from a volcano in Eyjafjallajokul April 17, 2010. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

By Omar Valdimarsson

REYKJAVIK (Reuters) - Powerful tremors from an Icelandic volcano that has been a menace for travelers across Europe shook the countryside on Sunday as eruptions hurled a steady stream of ash into the sky.

Ash from the volcano drifted southeast toward the European continent, sparing the capital Reykjavik and other more populated centres but forcing farmers and their livestock indoors as a blanket of ash fell on the surrounding areas.

"We are all doing our utmost to make sure that the farming community in this area survives this disaster," Icelandic President Olafur Grimsson told Reuters Television.

He said it was difficult to assess the impact on tourism in the country, which is only just emerging from a deep recession, but that recent events had put Iceland in the spotlight and that the country might even lure in more visitors.

"What we are experiencing here in Iceland is forces of nature on display... And that is a spectacle -- the combination of volcanic eruption and glaciers you cannot see anywhere else in the world," he said.

Iceland's Meterological Office said tremors from the volcano had grown more intense but that the column of ash rising from the volcano had eased back to 4-5 km (2.5-3 miles) from as high as 11 km when it started erupting earlier this week.

"We are seeing mixed signals. There are some hints that the eruption will be decreasing, and others that show it is not decreasing," said Einar Kjartansson, a geophysicist at the Meteorological Office.

The eruption is taking place under Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull glacier, normally a popular hiking ground about 120 km (75 miles) southeast of the capital Reykjavik.

Kjartansson believes the volcano has melted about 10 percent of the glacier, but melting might have slowed in recent hours.

However, that does not mean Europe will see any great relief from the plume of ash that is choking the upper atmosphere with tiny particles of glass and pulverized rock, threatening jet engines and airframes.

The glacier on top of the volcano is about 200 meters (650 ft) thick -- thinner than many glaciers atop other volcanoes that have erupted in recent times. That means there is less ice, and water, to suffocate the eruptions and resulting steam.

"It might mean more intense ash production," Kjartansson said.

It still could take months for the volcano to burn through the rest of the glacier, to a point where the steam and ash would turn instead into lava, he said.

DAY TURNS TO NIGHT Vidir Reynisson, of the Civil Protection Department, said some areas near the volcano were pitchblack during daylight hours.

"There are places where you can't even see the palm of your hand," he said.

Many farmers remained to tend their livestock and some, assisted by rescue squads, were on rooftops sweeping off the accumulated ash to prevent roofs from caving in. There were no disruptions to electricity or water supplies in the area.

Meanwhile, travelers stranded in Iceland due to limited flights out of the international Keflavik airport got approval on travel to Norway.

Icelandair said it was running five flights to Trondheim in Norway with a total of 800 passengers while Iceland Express flew once. Flights to and from the United States remained unaffected.

But more delays and diversions could be in store for Europe.

U.S.-based forecaster AccuWeather said winds at the level of the ash plume were expected to continue steering it from Iceland into northern Britain and southern Scandinavia through Monday.

The winds are seen shifting farther south Tuesday and Wednesday, sending any ash farther south and putting Germany and the Netherlands at greater risk, it said.

Iceland sits on a volcanic hotspot in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and has relatively frequent eruptions, though most occur in sparsely populated areas and pose little danger to people or property. The last eruption took place in 2004.

(Writing and additional reporting by Mia Shanley in Stockholm, editing by Dominic Evans)

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=volcanic-ash-relentless

Rabu, 14 April 2010

Iceland evacuates hundreds as volcano erupts again

By GUDJON HELGASON and JILL LAWLESS, Associated Press Writers –23 mins ago

REYKJAVIK, Iceland – A volcano under a glacier in Iceland erupted Wednesday for the second time in less than a month, melting ice, spewing smoke and steam, closing a major road and forcing hundreds of people to flee rising floodwaters.

Authorities evacuated 800 residents from around the Eyjafjallajokull glacier as rivers rose by up to 10 feet (3 meters).

Emergency officials and scientists said the eruption under the ice cap was 10 to 20 times more powerful than one last month, and carried a much greater risk of widespread flooding.

"This is a very much more violent eruption, because it's interacting with ice and water," said Andy Russell, an expert in glacial flooding at the University of Newcastle in northern England. "It becomes much more explosive, instead of a nice lava flow oozing out of the ground."

Rognvaldur Olafsson, a chief inspector for the Icelandic Civil Protection Agency, said no lives or properties were in immediate danger. Scientists said there was no sign of increased activity at the much larger Katla volcano nearby.

Iceland's Meteorological Office said a plume of steam rose at least five miles (eight kilometers) into the air. Scientists aboard a Coast Guard plane that flew over the volcano said the new fissure appeared to be up to 1.2 miles (2 kilometers) long.

There were no immediate signs of large clouds of volcanic ash, which could disrupt air travel between Europe and North America. Somedomestic flights were canceled, but Iceland's international airport remained open.

The volcano, about 75 miles (120 kilometers) east of Reykjavik, erupted March 20 after almost 200 years of silence.

The original eruption petered out earlier this week. But Gunnar Gudmundsson, a geophysicist at the Icelandic Meteorological Office, said there were a series of tremors overnight, and rivers in the area began rising Wednesday morning — strong evidence of a new eruption under the glacier.

Last month's eruption struck near the glacier in an area that had no ice. Gudmundsson said the new eruption appeared to be about eight or nine kilometers (five to six miles) west of the original fissure.

"Most probably this eruption is taking place at the summit ... under the ice," he said.

Pall Einarsson, a geophysicist at the University of Iceland, said magma was melting a hole in the 650-foot (200 meter) thick ice covering the volcano's crater, sending floodwater coursing down the glacier into lowland areas.

Residents were evacuated to a Red Cross center in the nearby community of Hvolsvollur, the Civil Protection Agency said.

Iceland's main coastal ring road was closed near the volcano, and workers smashed a hole in the highway in a bid to give the rushing water a clear route to the coast and prevent a major bridge from being swept away.

Iceland, a nation of 320,000 people, sits on a large volcanic hot spot in the Atlantic's mid-oceanic ridge.Volcanic eruptions are often triggered by seismic activity when the Earth's plates move and when magma from deep underground pushes its way to the surface.

The last time there was an eruption near the 100-square-mile (160 square-kilometer) Eyjafjallajokull glacier was in 1821.

A bigger worry is Katla, which in the past has erupted in tandem with Eyjafjallajokull.

Katla is located under the vast Myrdalsjokull ice cap. An eruption could cause widespread flooding and disrupt air traffic between Europe and North America.

The last major eruption took place in 1918, and vulcanologists say a new blast is overdue.

"So far there have been no signs of the reawakening of the Katla volcano, but a lot of things can still happen, so we are monitoring it quite closely," Einarsson said.

___

Lawless reported from London. Associated Press writer Danica Kirka also contributed to this report.

___

On the Net:

Volcano webcam: http://eldgos.mila.is/eyjafjallajokull-fra-valahnjuk/

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100414/ap_on_re_eu/eu_iceland_volcano;_ylt=AsPORDStCGAhs1DXVdjqXxlvaA8F;_ylu=X3oDMTJqbjliMDVlBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwNDE0L2V1X2ljZWxhbmRfdm9sY2FubwRjcG9zAzMEcG9zAzgEc2VjA3luX3RvcF9zdG9yeQRzbGsDaWNlbGFuZGV2YWN1

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Senin, 17 Mei 2010

Most European airports reopen, some see ash delays

Most European airports reopen, some see ash delays

Sabtu, 15 Mei 2010

UK, Germany eye possible ash travel disruptions

UK, Germany eye possible ash travel disruptions

Sabtu, 24 April 2010

New plan would allow whale hunts, with limits

New plan would allow whale hunts, with limits

Kamis, 22 April 2010

Threat of new, larger Icelandic eruption looms

Threat of new, larger Icelandic eruption looms

Senin, 19 April 2010

Volcanic ash relentless as tremors rock Iceland

Volcanic ash relentless as tremors rock Iceland

Rabu, 14 April 2010

Iceland evacuates hundreds as volcano erupts again

Iceland evacuates hundreds as volcano erupts again

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